I really enjoyed SpellCraft School of Magic back in December last year. Evidently, I wasn’t alone as it went on to win Best Free To Play Game in our 2011 Best App Ever Awards.

Clearly, Appy Entertainment decided what was there wasn’t enough as a new update has been recently released for SpellCraft School of Magic which adds plenty of new things to the social RPG.

First up, the difficulty level has been adjusted to make things a little smoother for many. Harvesting gold is made easier through the new plant, Goldberry, while new healing spells, Healing Touch, Rejuvenation, Renew, help make staying alive that touch simpler!

For the customization addict, new robes and hats in the form of the Bone Robe and the Stormchaser Robe, plus the new and impressive Lifedrinker Wand.

It’s a hefty update that makes now the perfect time to return to SpellCraft School of Magic or discover it for the first time. Check out the artwork below for a sign of what’s available in this new update.

FREE!

SpellCraft School of Magic

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2011-12-07 :: Category: Games

LoSo, a location-based restaurant and bars app which bills itself as a combination of FourSquare and Yelp, has announced a complete redesign as part of the version 2.0 update. New features include user profiles, as well as a real-time news feed linked to social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

The most significant new addition is the What’s Up! feature, which allows users to take photos or videos of local bars and restaurants and instantly upload them to your Facebook page, the restaurant’s Facebook page, and LoSo‘s listings. The app also allows users to check out menus, drink specials and happy hour deals of all participating businesses within 10 miles of their current location. Checking in at participating businesses grants QRewards Points, which can be redeemed for free food and drinks, as well as other prizes.

LoSo is currently testing in the Philadelphia and Boston markets, and will be expanding to Washington D.C, Chicago and Dallas soon.

FREE!

LoSo

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2011-03-24 :: Category: Travel

On Twitter, it’s a dilemma that would be referred to as a ‘first world problem’ but it is sometimes difficult to decide which restaurant to go to for a meal. So many choices are out there and when it’s a decision that has to be made between many friends, things can get tricky. Enter Hngry, an app that may lack an ‘u’ but certainly doesn’t lack functionality.

At its most basic, Hngry lists all the restaurants that are nearby to the user’s location, along with the ability to add opening hours, all in an attractive manner. Users can then choose from the list and flick through the selection, gradually narrowing down the selection before coming to a decision. For those with iPhone owning friends, they can share lists directly on individual devices using the Hngry app. The app can even find menu details for any restaurant on the list if one is available on the internet.

Once a decision has been made, users can dial the restaurant directly from within the app then Hngry offers a place to store order details for that meal and any helpful notes required. For those with favourite dishes, it makes it all the easier to check what meals were so nice the last time the user visited a place.

There’s even the ability to take photos of a meal as a reminder of what was so tasty and Twitter integration ensures that sociable diners can share their choice.

Throughout, the app keeps track of how many times the user has visited a restaurant, making for an ideal guide at a glance as to what place is best for the user’s tastes.

For those who dine out regularly, Hngry is a great resource that combines many useful meal planning features.

Hngry is available now, priced at $2.99.

FREE!

Hngry

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2012-01-17 :: Category:

Regardless of the location, there’s bound to be something interesting going on somewhere. AroundNow seeks to provide an easy way of seeing exactly what’s going on locally at any time.

Using Twitter as a notification system, AroundNow offers news of interest depending on the area the user happens to reside in at the time. That news can range from all manners of things from entertainment events such as concerts or celebrity spottings to parties or demonstrations. Traffic information such as road works or traffic jams can also be provided as well as something as regular as a good sale in a local store.

As it’s partly a social networking app, AroundNow relies upon user participation to truly be great but it’s an excellent idea. In a busy and bustling city, it’s easy to miss out on something exciting so this app could be the ideal way to get involved in local events.

AroundNow is out now and it’s a free download.

FREE!

AroundNow - tweets & news near you right now

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2012-01-14 :: Category: Lifestyle

Inspired by singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett, THQ’s Margaritaville Online is now available on Facebook and iPad. The game invites players to escape to the laid back tropical paradise where margaritas are a plenty, music is chill and adventure is guaranteed. The point of the game is for the player to build their ideal oasis while partying with friends and turning their experience from a game into a lifestyle.

Featuring an immersive 3D world and hits from Buffett himself, players are encouraged to leave their cares behind. And yes, there are frozen concoctions to serve up to friends from the player’s personal island beach bar. Beyond the adult beverages, players can explore all the island has to offer such as meeting and interactive with the natives, finding forgotten treasure, sailing boats and playing mini-games. Basically, the game is all about relaxing and enjoying the sun, surf and sand with a drink in one hand and a six-string in the other. Finding the lost shaker of salt is just a bonus and not required. The game is free to play with optional in-game premium items

FREE!

Margaritaville Online

iPad Only App - Designed for the iPad
Released: 2012-01-19 :: Category: Games

Plenty of people love playing social games and similar numbers enjoy caring for a virtual pet. How about combining the two? That’s what LoadComplete decided to do with Bumping Bears and they’ve even added a real life socializing element.

Bumping Bears gives players the chance to adopt bears to play and raise on their own donut planet located in the wider bear galaxy. Players can care for up to 3 bears at once, encouraging them towards one of over 70 bear professions while dressing them from a choice of over 100,000 unique outfit combinations.

The player can then partake in quests, missions and minigames to help their bear improve in their chosen profession.

For the social gamer, players can find other like minded souls using geolocation, then bump their phones together to make their bears date and mate. It’s all very cute and lovable but not essential to progression.

Bumping Bears is out now and it’s an Universal app.

FREE!

Bumping Bears

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2011-10-27 :: Category: Games

With over 1.8 million reviews with an average of four stars, the Facebook app for iPhone continues to be one of the most popular in the App Store. However, there are a few gripes and groans on the review board in regards to uploading pictures as well as being able to access Timeline, which launched earlier this week globally. The Zuckerberg-run company pushed out their Facebook 4.1 update for iPhone a few days ago to combat some of these issues as well as offer access to friend lists, subscribers and subscriptions.

Overall, the application seems to be faster at executing all the various tasks such as status updates, uploading and tagging photos and zipping through different news feeds. This, I’m sure, is a welcomed update to the 99.5 million monthly active users of the iPhone app. For those interested in the update for iPad, stay tuned as that is still in the works. Hopefully, it’s not a long wait. As for the iPhone update, the most significant update is how quickly photos load. It’s extremely fast, which for most, provides a better user experience as they won’t have to wait those extra seconds. Also, the layout of a friend’s profile is a lot easier to navigate as when clicked the user can now quickly add them to specific friends lists. Their about, photos and friends lists are above the fold for easy access as well. Facebook 4.1 is available for immediate download as a free app update on the iPhone.

FREE!

Facebook

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2008-07-11 :: Category: Social Networking

[ via TechCrunch ]

Whether it’s football season or March Madness, it seems like there is always something going on in the world of sports for rabid fans to follow. Luckily for them, the new PlayUp app, “the first social network app for sports fans,” is here to help these people stay connected all through their mobile devices. It’s like having a sports bar anywhere.

PlayUp tracks stats and real-time scores from the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS and college football and basketball games. International leagues like the English Premier League Soccer and Australian Rules Football are represented as well. Fans of a particular team can track their progress and interact with other fans in chat rooms while games are on. Soon users will also be able to answer trivia questions and play other games through the app. They have to do something during the off season.

PlayUp is currently available for free on the App Store. It sounds like the next best thing to having a portable tailgate party.

FREE!

PlayUp - Where Sport Gets Social

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2011-10-02 :: Category: Sports

I’ve never really been one for direct competition. I tend to prefer working with a team as opposed to fighting against other people, it’s just how I operate I suppose. But even I have to admit Spin Island might be on to something here. Their new app, iBeatThat, is something akin to a social networking YouTube hybrid with a decidedly “Top that!” vibe. Competitive types (read: normal people) will no doubt eat this stuff up.

The overall premise is simple: users pick a “real world activity” such as snowboarding, basketball, etc… and take a video of themselves doing something impressive in that category. Once that’s done, they can upload the clip through the app and see what happens. Which is to say, other users can view the video and rate it or even attempt to one-up the feat and see what the community thinks of their own attempt. They can also issue direct challenges to people on their friends list.

Would-be daredevils or “physical activity” enthusiasts will no doubt get plenty of use out of iBeatThat. And they can give it a spin right now for free. Just remember to play it safe, folks. Don’t go getting seriously injured out there for the sake of fleeting notoriety.

FREE!

iBeatThat

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2011-11-03 :: Category: Sports

Flipboard, the iPad social magazine app, has announced that Comedy Central’s hit show “The Colbert Report” is becoming a content provider, Mashable reports. This marks a big step for what Apple proclaimed was the best iPad app of 2010 because it is the first video contributor to be added the service. Before this announcement, rumors had been circulating that Flipboard would make this move.

What sets Flipboard apart from other media aggregators is how it presents user data from social networks and websites in the form of magazines for users to flip through. It remains to be seen though how video will be integrated into this model beyond just having a dedicated video section. We do know that users won’t be able to watch full episodes, just clips and tweets from Colbert himself, a self-proclaimed iPad fan.

Flipboard’s video section is currently live. Although “The Colbert Report” is the only announced partner, with Paramount Pictures and Bud Light signed on as advertisers that should change soon. Flipboard is available for free now on the App Store.

[ via Mashable.com ]

FREE!

Flipboard: Your Social News Magazine

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2010-07-21 :: Category: News

We’ve all been there. Two sports events are on at once and it’s a judgement call to figure out which one to watch and which one to just keep an eye on the score of. While sometimes it’s the obvious game with the two big leading teams against each other, other times it’s a more subtle David and Goliath style conflict that turns out to be the more exciting game. How to figure out which one as soon as possible though? Maybe Thuuz will be able to help there.

It’s an app that, using some unique and mysterious algorithms, figures out the excitement of each game in real-time then rates it on a scale of 0-100. Users pick their favorite sports, teams and players, set their excitement threshold and then the app gets to work.

Currently monitoring a wide variety of sports such as NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, Soccer, Cricket, Rugby as well as college sports like Football and Basketball, this app should have sports fans pretty covered for figuring out what to watch.

Further functionality is offered with the ability to watch live games when in the US as well as track down the nearest sports bar to catch the action.

It’s a free app so give it a shot and why not report back on how it’s gone. Initial feedback is looking pretty darn promising. Finally, this predicament could be solved!

FREE!

Thuuz Sports

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2011-09-13 :: Category: Sports

Some time ago, a man by the name of Frank Warren started a little project. He invited people to send him anonymous postcards with a personal secret attached, and a lot of people ended up sending in a lot of cards. In fact, he received so many responses he was able to put all of these secret confessions into several books. And now, the project has entered the world of social networking.

PostSecret, the app, allows users to take pictures and type out accompanying words as they bare any hidden part of their life they choose. Other users can also send replies if they want to. The anonymity this app affords people is no joke: no personal information is ever revealed, exact locations (via GPS) are never stored, it’s possible to choose a general location such as a city or school, no sign up is required and secrets don’t have to be stored on the device. Granted, they need to be stored if a user wishes to monitor responses, but accessing them requires a personalized code. PostSecret takes the privacy of its users very seriously.

Those interested in confessing anonymously to the entire world, or those content to silently dig through random strangers’ dirty laundry, can check out PostSecret on the App Store right now.

$1.99

PostSecret

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2011-09-04 :: Category: Social Networking

Jack in the Box (the social media blog, not the blacklisted burger joint) has released their own iPhone app, designed to cram everything from the website into a more iOS-friendly package, even including their Facebook and Youtube feeds. Ten of the tech industry’s biggest websites are featured, and funneling their news feeds through the tiny clown head in a box is as simple as a few quick taps. Setting it all up takes a minute, at most.

From there it’s a simple matter of checking-in with Jack every once in a while. The two newest articles appear in a speech bubble over the tiny toy’s head, and once something good pops up a tap is all that’s needed to check it out. Of course, the tiny bubble can also be expanded to make browsing the list easier. Searching through the plethora of news stories is all done using an in-app browser with a handy “tab left/right” function that makes jumping from news item to news item a breeze. Simply tap the right arrow and it loads the next news item.

And what if it’s a slow news day? Well then there’s an entire history of social media to read up on, of course. Hidden under the not-so-hidden Evolution tab is a tree that chronicles the growth of digital and social media, which itself contains a fairly extensive encyclopedia of terminology to help out the less tech-savvy. Not sure what the word “aggregator” means? Tap it and get the definition. It doesn’t do much to help with news-gathering, but it’s still a nice feature to have for anyone who isn’t entirely up to date on networking sites such as Twitter and the like.

Sure, information-gathering isn’t a new concept for the App Store., but that doesn’t make AppJack any less handy to have around. It puts the content of ten major tech sites in one convenient place, and does so for the low low price of absolutely nothing. Not a bad deal, eh?

FREE!

AskJack – The one-stop-app for social media & tech news

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2011-07-12 :: Category: News

What do you get when you mix Farmville, Google Maps, Yelp, and zombies? Fleck Touch.

Fleck Touch is a massively-multiplayer game that takes place on Google Maps. It’s possible to plant plants, trees, shrubs, and more on plots of land that actually exist. Players can dig up zombies from tombstones and fight them; especially if they are encroaching on the players real-life address! It’s even possible to buy restaurants that actually exist (I’m told that they must be reviewed on Yelp to show up). Friends can go on cooperative quests and zombie-blasting outings. And everyone who plays on Fleck Touch plays on the same, real-world Google map!

Fleck Touch provides quests for those who need some direction. Starting quests like building a house and dancing with another player are available. And more complex quests like killing certain amounts of zombies start popping up after getting used to the game.

Like all free games of this sort, the moneymaker is buying in-game currency. There are coins, which are relatively easy to get by farming and killing zombies. And there are gems, which are a bit harder to get (and cost much more) that are used to buy the coolest stuff (of course!). The currency can be used to buy more plants, decorations and power-ups. Some power-ups include Red Bolt which gives more stamina (not wings!), Ca$hUP (which looks like a bottle of ketchup) increases how many coins are gained, 24 hour Bolt Shots double stamina for 24 hours, and other humorous references.

Fleck Touch is available for free on the iPad and is playable in a browser. While Fleck has officially been launched, the developers are still looking at the game as a work in progress with more to come.

“…even though this is the culmination of a year+ of work with a pretty sizable group of people (for a mobile game – this is still smaller than even the smallest team I’ve worked with on a console game by a significant margin), it’s also not really the end of development – it’s only the beginning. We’ve got a ton more work to do,” written on the Self Aware website.

FREE!

Fleck Touch

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2011-05-05 :: Category: Games

On-demand social music app Rdio has added a new form of payment for their subscription service – you can now pay using your Amazon Payments account. Hurrah!

For those who haven’t tried it yet, Rdio is a social music service from the founders of Skype that allows you to listen to as much music as you want through your iOS device as well as the web and your PC or Mac. You can build your online music collection from a catalogue of over 8 million songs while also checking out other people’s collections and playlists, as well as see what’s popular at the moment. Chris reviewed it favorably upon launch last year and a recent update has looked promising.

The app costs from $4.99 a month, which was previously only payable by Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express. Now you can let Amazon Payments handle it all, thus saving you from entering your card details on another source -something that’s bound to be reassuring to many.

If you’ve not tried Rdio before, there’s a 7 day trial available on the website for US and Canada based residents.

FREE!

Rdio

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2009-12-17 :: Category: Music

On Monday night Ning launched its social Mogwee app for iOS. The app is a brand new product from the social network-focused company and has nothing to do with its online community service.

Mogwee essentially provides an alternative platform for chatting with friends either on an individual or group basis. This is a free app that runs on iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad and will eventually be available for the Droid platform as well as accessible online through a web version on the app’s website.

You create a username and then different “hangouts,” which act more or less like chat rooms. The experience isn’t unlike communicating via text messages. So, if you’re looking for a text message-like experience in a group setting, Mogwee is for you.

In addition to being able to chat, you can also share images and videos. What’s more, you can also give gifts to each other, such as a burger or cake. And you can perform silly actions like throwing sheep and even zombie sheep.

All around, it’s an interesting social tool that goes out of its way to add more fun to chat. Will it make a splash? Hard to say. But you can check it out for yourself for free on the iTunes App Store.